LFP078 – Special Episode! 30,000 Feet Guide to UK Property Investment in the Fintech Age with Alex Michelin, founder CapitalRise

We all know that buying a property in the UK is a nightmare, that property prices are through the roof, that a first time buyer in London has an average age of 39 and that the “Bank of Mum and Dad” now has to contribute to around a third of first time purchases. Yet most folks in the UK are owner-occupiers and have to go through this.

How can Fintech help?

I’m delighted to be joined today by Alex Michelin, a former investment banker turned highly successful property developer, who not only has been immersed in this for over 15yrs but who recently founded CapitalRise a Fintech property portal. The team of eight at CapitalRise has over 75yrs of direct retail investment experience between them and the co-founders Alex and Andrew Dunn, who have acquired, developed and sold over £1bn of real estate. CapitalRise has been spun out of the highly successful top-of-the-market luxury property developers Finchatton.

Given the “challenges” (<coughs>) of the UK property market how can Fintech help? Before we get to that Alex sets the scene with an overview of all the many ways one can get exposure to UK property. So by the time we get to Fintech y’all should have a good idea of where it fits in, what it disrupts and its potential relevance to you.

Topics discussed include:

Alex’s career journey and experiences in property development – having now done over £1bn of property development and having £1bn to sell

the genesis of CapitalRise

the “very real”, very tangible nature of property development compared to much of FS or consultancy

“something that attracted me to property development is that we build homes”

What Is Property?

Many sub-sectors and the performance of these varies

Residential

home one lives in

buy-to-let

Commercial

offices

“sheds”

retail

hotels

etc

NB regional aspect

residential has outperformed most asset classes over time (housing shortage, a problem the UK has never solved)

residential has outperformed commercial which tends much more to go up and down with economic cycles

pro-cyclical development behaviour in commercial property

the impact of the internet on commercial property

Why Invest In Property?

to live in it 🙂 (and not “waste” money on rent)

as an asset in its own right

to save for your deposit for your first property in a “matched” way

will Brexit impact the property trend? Or are economics/interest rates a bigger threat